Device for improving eyesight.



A. W. STEPHENS. DEVICE FOR IMPROVING EYESIGHT. APPLICATION FILED APR.26, 1911.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

YHL Noam/s PETERS 120., FHOTOLITHO WASHINGTON, n. L?

burrs srirrns PATENT enrich.

ANNIE W. STEPHENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DEVICE FOR IMPROVING EYESIGHT.

Application filed April 26, 1911.

1 b all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANNIE VICKES brnrnnxs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New Yorc, have invented an Improvement in Devices for Improving Eyesight, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is designed as an improve ment upon the device shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 619,002, granted February 7, 1899, to my late husband, Benjamin F. Stephens, with the object of lessening the expense to both manufacturer and user and overcoming diiliculties experienced in the sale of the articles.

In carrying out my invention, the cupmember of the device for improving eyesight, otherwise known as the Sight Restorer is made divisible, that is, with a base and removable part. The base remains a part of the device while the removable part is made in several sizes to conform to eyes of different size, and the removable parts are interchangeable on the said common base; it is therefore possible to supply the purchaser with the required size of the removable member with the instrument in the first instance and without the trouble and inconvenience that might otherwise arise from misfit or necessary exchange.

These devices for improving the eyesight are largely supplied to customers at a distance and are sent through the mail, and where the customer orders a device with the instructions that the eyes are medium, small or large, it is at once apparent that the sight restorer can be furnished with a medium, small or large removable member so as to fill the order.

In the drawing. Figure 1 is an elevation and partial section representing the device of my improvement, and Figs. 9, 3 and 4 are elevations of the removable member in different sizes.

The air-ball a, the flexible branch tubes 7) b the bands 0, threaded stems o and tubular member (Z are the same as shown and described in the aforesaid Letters Patent of Benjamin F. Stephens; the bands 0 extending around the upper ends of the flexible branch tubes Z2 5 and said bands, together with the threaded stems c and tubular member (Z, forming adjusting devices for varying the distance between the axes of the eyeto cause the same to agree with the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914:.

Serial No. 623,363.

axes of the eyes. In the aforesaid patent the eye-cup members are one piece, with the stem portion fitting down into the free ends of the flexible branch tubes 6 Z2 and surrounded by the bands 0, and said eye-cup members receive the myoptic concaves.

\Vith this device it was found in practice that where an instrument was sent out and the eye-cups were too large or too small, it

vas necessary to return the instrument and have the eye-cup members taken out and medium sized or smaller ones, or larger ones, inserted in place and the instrument returned, or else it was necessary to send another instrument with eye-cups of a different size. This of course, required time. caused delay and increased the expense of the instrument both to manufacturer and seller and to the user.

In the device of my invention, the eye-cup member is made in two parts, that is, a cupshaped base a with a stem 6 and a removable cup f and stem 7; the outer end of the cup 0 being centrally recessed and interiorly threaded and the stem 6 thereof being received within the flexible branch tubes 6 b and surrounded by the bands 0. This cupmember 7' receives the myoptic concave l1, and the stem f of the cup is recessed to re ceive the lower end of the stem h of the myoptic concave.

2' represents a spring within the recess of the cup and surrounding the stem 71 with the upper contracted convolution of the spring 2' received in a groove 2 around the base of the concave h and upper part of the stem M, and the larger convolution of the spring received in a groove 3 interiorly made in the cup f at the base of its recess, so that when the end convolutions of the spring are received in the grooves 2 8 the myoptic concave l2- and its stem 7& are held to the cup 7 and its stem f whereby the function of the spring z and the myoptic concave and its stem may be performed with said parts connected to the cup f and its stem f so that accidental separation is prevented.

The stem f of the cup f is exteriorly threaded so as to screw into the recess of the base 6, whereby the surfaces at the upper end of the base 6 and lower portion of the cup f come into contact so that the ex- I ternal appearance of the cup-shaped member as a whole is not marred and there is only the line of division visually apparent; hence the parts f P, h 7L1 and i as a unit may be readily unscrewed and such smaller or larger parts as are shown in Figs. 2 and 4, be connected up with the instrument in place of the same.

In Fig. 3 the size of the cup-shaped part shown agrees with the size shown in Fig. 1, and the bases of the cup part f in Figs. 2, 3 and 4: will be found to agree in diameter; hence the same will fit and the relation of the parts to the cup-shaped base 6 agrees in all the figures; the upper portion which fits over the eye being the only part in which the measurement is different,it being also afact that in these sizes the myoptic concave h and its stem also remain the same size.

I claim as my invention:

into the threaded recesses of the members secured in the branch tubes.

Signed by me this 11th day of April 1911.

ANNIE W. STEPHENS.

Vitnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, E. ZACHARIASEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

